where do you get your tanks refilled BHornsey?

Ive just upgraded to pressurised and my LFS is about as usefull as a chocolate teapot.. Im not sure where to get my JBL refillable cylinder filled. On my regulater, it says not to use refillable cylinders on it.

Hi,

I have a friend who runs a fire extinguisher refill service. He gave me a couple of bottles and he swaps them for me when they run out. As a friend he does it at a good price.

Have a look in your phone book for fire extinguisher services and give them a bell. Most are happy to help.

I don't know about the JBL regs. I have a Dennerle one which fits a fire extinguisher just fine. I took my regulator with me and offered it up to make sure it fitted OK.

thats a good idea, when the time comes ill take mine round with me. I think mine is a standard fitting.

Another option is a pub CO2 bottle but they tend to be monster sized!

A 2kg fire extinguisher lasts about 3 months on my Trigon 190 tank and I have a 5kg bottle for my 6' tank I'm setting up

I have been using second hand 2kg fire extinguishers. Last time i bought some i got 3 for about £30 (delivered) off of ebay. Not having any direct connections with someone that can supply CO2 e.g. brewing, welding or fire extinguisher industries, this is the cheapest method i have found in the UK.

As far as I’m aware regs for refillable CO2 cylinders are standardised within Europe (i think the US uses a different size fitting) although i would check the jbl ones berfore buying anything.

I have found that I get 3 to 4 months out of a 2kg bottle on a 120l tank.

Cheers
Neil

Thats a good idea. I have a piddly little 500gram bottle, so Im guessing its going to run out pretty fast, Ill investigate the ebay route.

An alternative for those looking to set up a new (and/or small) pressurized CO2 system is the new regulator from Red Sea. They have a version that uses paintball cylinders.

I didn't want a big cylinder sitting around, plus I didn't want to drive all the way to nearest industrial welding and gas supply shop so I got this one. It came with a needle valve for control and has been working pretty good so far. My cylinders are only about 12" tall and 4-5 inches in diameter so they hide nicely behind the tank out of sight.

Aquarium | CO2 System Components | Co2 Pressure Regulator for Paintball - AO0615 - ThatPetPlace.com

There's plenty of paintball shops around and I can get my 20oz cylinders filled for $2-$3. It lasts between one and two months on my 50 gal tank depending how high I have the flow cranked up.

You can get cheap paintball cylinders on e-bay ($10 or less for 20oz). I've got two so I always have a back-up. That way I can switch them out if I unexpectedly run out of gas and I don't have to rush back to the store for an emergency refill.

Downside is larger systems may burn through 20oz cylinders kind of quickly.

Frolicsome - forget the CO2... How do I get some of those chocolate teapots????

Chocolate is one of the few things I like better than fiddling around with my tanks!

Hi all.

It's been a busy couple of weeks on my new tank whilst I modified my sump.
I've enlarged the initial chamber, put a sock filter in there and covered it up to get a nice gastight seal. The access port to get at the filter is a glass panel with some rubber seals which seem to work just fine.

What I have is a 900 Lph pump driving into a Mazzei injecter. This then passes through a UV unit and into the intake of the return pump, a 3500Lph.

I fitted the return chamber cover with a 6mm pipe which I have fed to the intake of the first pump. When it's in place it's pulling the gases (which I assume to be a mix of CO2 and atmospheric gases) from the chamber into the pump but it's appearing in the tank as large bubbles; I assume the atmospheric gases are not as soluble?

I'm still struggling to get a good level of CO2.

I can see a nice mist of CO2 but my drop test is a darker green and my pH is around 7.0 - 7.1. KH is around 6-7.

Just a question, CO2 in water drives down pH; can the same be seen with CO2 in gas phase? As it's still a gas it won't have mixed with the water.

Any thoughts? I now have everything ready but I don't want to plant the tank until I can get CO2 working effectively.

All you do is add more CO2, if you have good mixing, good flow, direct CO2 mist going into the tank, not much left.

The real test is the plant response.
You can try some easy plants for now and see.

Also, when are you measuring pH and by what method?
Measure CO2 at early, pre dawn, 1 and 2 hours after and once during the mid day and once before the lights go off.

That will give you a decent idea of how effective the CO2 system is.

Regards,
Tom Barr